There was that school bus of kids kidnapped and held. There'd have to be an organized group in on it unless the passengers aren't meant to remain alive. Otherwise they need feeding, water and all the necessities of life plus the great odds many will try to escape. Now, if there was a refueling plane in on this, could they still be in the air - that's my question.

The main thing is that if it did happen, it would be unprecedented. I'm fairly certain that there has never been an incident of a plane completely disappearing and later being discovered with the passengers safe but taken prisoner. So we would have to calculate the probability based on a current rate of 0%. That doesn't mean that this couldn't be the first time, but it seems unlikely.

The question is how many airfields exist where a plane that size could land safely. Bonus points if the plane being able to take off again isn't that important. Did a quick Google earlier today and the short version is that the Boeing 777 needs around 3,000-6,000 feet of stopping distance to land (depending on weather, runway conditions, weight of the plane, etc. etc. etc.) If any of those places have large aircraft hangers where the plane could quickly be hidden from sight, it'd be pretty much impossible to find if nobody not in on the secret saw it land.

For comparison, the Class A Airfields, built for the RAF during WWII, included runways of a minimum length of 6,000 feet, and some more googling suggests that a minimum landing roll of 3,000 feet was common for the Boeing B-17 (much smaller than the 777, I can only assume the 777 has much more effective brakes).

Couldn't you land one on a large enough hunk of flat grassland? If you didn't feel the need to be able to fly it again and all you wanted were the passengers for whatever reason. Fly it north to some steppes/tundra, land it and cover it with camo netting while hauling the passengers away [or Bataan death marching them] somewhere to hold them.

Or film the next season of Lost .... could go either way. Maybe .... Aliens!

The plane's size would make it visible to people for miles around - Even if you had a remote abandoned airfield, you'd have to fly over populated areas to get there. Since Asia is the most populated region on Earth, it seems that someone would have seen the aircraft flying overhead or descending.

How do you control 239 people? - Assuming that this wasn't the work of a state level actor or a large terrorist group, how could you control such a large group for at least a week?

Communication devices - At least some of teh passengers would find a method to retain their communication devices (cell phones,sat phones,tablets,etc) Why haven't they tried to communicate if they were alive?

Why would any group bother? - Malaysia is not a wealthy country and China does not seem to be a nation which would indulge terrorists by paying a ransom or ransoms for its citizens. Even if a group COULD take such a large number of people and an airplane captive, what would they expect to gain?

Unfortunately, as time passes it seems clear that this will ultimately be the recovery of the airframe or its recording devices from the sea floor, rather than a hostage situation.

It's pretty darn close to inconceivable ("you keep using that word") that they could have found anywhere to land safely. The very best hope would have been ditching in shallow water, nearby land.

For that matter, ditch in shallow water somewhere either deserted or where another plane outline wouldn't be noticed among others (old planes used as artificial reefs) and hide in plain sight. Passengers herded into smallish boats, smaller groups being easier to control.
But this is all supposing that the threat of killing less than 300 people would be enough to move money or power from one group to another. Killing that many people (even civilians, some of the children) doesn't cause a long-term widespread outrage these days, awfully enough.
I'm in the camp that there's no way the plane landed safely; if it crashed and they're alive that would be stunning to me after 9 days now.

Couldn't you land one on a large enough hunk of flat grassland? If you didn't feel the need to be able to fly it again and all you wanted were the passengers for whatever reason. Fly it north to some steppes/tundra, land it and cover it with camo netting while hauling the passengers away [or Bataan death marching them] somewhere to hold them.

Or film the next season of Lost .... could go either way. Maybe .... Aliens!

Most dedicated runways for heavy aircraft operations will have runway surfaces between 10 inches and 4 feet thick (including the rock that gets laid down underneath the pavement to act as a foundation). Granted, a lot of that is due to the repeated wear-and-tear that a major airport might have, so grassland might work once if you don't mind the risk of hitting a pothole at a few hundred miles an hour.

It's possible. It's difficult to determine because the media reports have been, literally, all over the place. This could have been a trial run for future hijackings. Being able to make a plane vanish from sight is terrorizing and not being able to locate any plane wreckage, even more so.

The plane could also be repainted and electronic signatures changed in order to slip it into the normal or expected flight plan of an existing MH370 route. The plane could be used to later carry any kind of dangerous or explosive cargo to a future point of impact.

Or it crashed into the sea.

China seems to offering up several red herrings about it's possible location. Maybe China has it?

There aren't many places you can fly a 777 without anyone noticing, either. Except over open ocean, where modern radar & satellites still can't cover everything.

Make no mistake, there is ZERO chance of the plane having been safely & secretly landed anywhere on the ground. That entire concept is impossible. Perhaps that was the hijackers' intent (if that's indeed what actually happened) and perhaps the passengers revolted in a United 93 style scenario -- but until the wreckage is located (which may never happen, but let's not give up hope) we may never know for certain what really happened.

Sorry, but I'm sticking with impossible. Here's the question everyone must ask: "Why?"

Why haven't there been any eyewitness sightings of a mysterious plane over land? SE Asia's the most crowded place on Earth.

Why haven't there been any mysterious radar trackings? The coastlines of all major countries, including Australia, are watched night and day for obvious post-9/11 reasons.

Why haven't any ransom demands been made? You don't hijack a plane filled with 240 civilians and then pretend like it never happened. That's thoroughly illogical.

As for "keeping the evidence secret", again...why? What would be the purpose of covering up anything up, while the entire world is watching?

No, I think we're safe to assume that the plane went down in the ocean, and nobody was spared. Any other scenario exists solely in science fiction, or crazy conspiracy theories (and no doubt, we'll have a plethora of both before long...)

What about a scenario the plane is landed at a runway that gets used sometimes? Perhaps a state player or something..the problem everyone is raising about landing the plane is that people would notice. I think the trick is doing it in a way that isn't noticed as being different.

Not that I think it's likely..I tend to believe the plane is in pieces somewhere. But for the sake of conversation...

There aren't many places where an airliner can crash without anyone noticing, either, yet one or the other seems to have happened.

No, it's down in the ocean somewhere. And the ocean is freaking HUGE. Seriously, look at a map of the U.S.A. and then imagine trying to find an airplane parked on the ground somewhere, with no city lights or geographical features to guide you. And then look at the size of the Indian Ocean. And remember, at this point, you're not even looking for a plane anymore, but only floating pieces or an oil slick or other tell-tale signs of what the water swallowed. Chances are, unless we get extremely lucky, Malaysia 370 will never be found.

In which case it probably crashed. I don't see how it would be possible to kill all the passengers without seriously damaging the plane leading to it crashing or just flat out crashing it. Maybe the intent was to land somewhere, drop the passengers off, then go somewhere else? I don't know if the plane would have had enough fuel to do that though and how it could have done that without anyone seeing.

Maybe this was a case of a loony, suicidal pilot. Or incredibly dumb hijackers who didn't think this through properly. Wouldn't it have been a lot easier to buy a plane through the black market if stealing a plane was the intent?

Whatever happened, it's very tragic for the passengers and flight crew (assuming this wasn't something the pilots were in on).

No, it's down in the ocean somewhere. And the ocean is freaking HUGE. Seriously, look at a map of the U.S.A. and then imagine trying to find an airplane parked on the ground somewhere, with no city lights or geographical features to guide you. And then look at the size of the Indian Ocean. And remember, at this point, you're not even looking for a plane anymore, but only floating pieces or an oil slick or other tell-tale signs of what the water swallowed. Chances are, unless we get extremely lucky, Malaysia 370 will never be found.

Since the US Navy is involved and they have access to the most advanced sonar gear on the planet, the plane will eventually be found.

However, depending upon the depth where the plane is located, it may be unrecoverable unless someone with deep pockets decides to bring together the necessary assets to retrieve it or at least enough of it to determine why the crash may have occurred. Unfortunately, Malaysian Air doesn't seem to be that party and the Chinese government may have to foot the bill.

The main thing is that if it did happen, it would be unprecedented. I'm fairly certain that there has never been an incident of a plane completely disappearing and later being discovered with the passengers safe but taken prisoner. So we would have to calculate the probability based on a current rate of 0%. That doesn't mean that this couldn't be the first time, but it seems unlikely.

Some people believed that about KAL 007, and some people still believe it about Flight 77 on 9/11. Didn't happen either time.

However, depending upon the depth where the plane is located, it may be unrecoverable unless someone with deep pockets decides to bring together the necessary assets to retrieve it or at least enough of it to determine why the crash may have occurred. Unfortunately, Malaysian Air doesn't seem to be that party and the Chinese government may have to foot the bill.

Do you think the US would also foot the bill considering that there were US citizens on board?

So maybe it crashed on the ground somewhere? The Andaman Islands are very remote and some of them uninhabited although it is hard to imagine something like that happening without the Indian military detecting it on their radar. And someone would have had to have seen or heard the crash. Maybe the locals heard it, but didn't see it or find the source of what they heard and since they're so isolated are unaware of what happened therefore haven't reported it?

Ah, the fog of war. Even if that is true, it's unlikely any passengers are still alive. What happened to all their cellphones?.

They... were taken? I make no reference to passengers being alive, or to anything else beyond the map I sourced which shows how many possible landing spots there could be and the latest reporting that communication may have come from the plane while back on ground.

They... were taken? I make no reference to passengers being alive, or to anything else beyond the map I sourced which shows how many possible landing spots there could be and the latest reporting that communication may have come from the plane while back on ground.

But the map you linked to showed landing spots in heavily populated countries with modern technology such as radar to detect any planes. I mean, spots on the coast of Australia were marked. There is absolutely no way such a large plane could land undetected in Australia. And India is a modern country with modern military technology not to mention tons of people- how on Earth could they have missed a giant plane landing? All the other locations on the map are also heavily populated. Even crashing in a Vietnamese jungle would have been noticed by someone.

The only possible location where an undetected crash could have happened- as far as I'm aware- would be the Andaman Islands as some are uninhabited and the people there are mostly disconnected from the outside world therefore may not have been able to determine that it was a plane crash if they only heard it, but didn't see it, and may not be aware that there is currently a search for a plane occurring.

But the map you linked to showed landing spots in heavily populated countries with modern technology such as radar to detect any planes. I mean, spots on the coast of Australia were marked. There is absolutely no way such a large plane could land undetected in Australia. And India is a modern country with modern military technology not to mention tons of people- how on Earth could they have missed a giant plane landing? All the other locations on the map are also heavily populated. Even crashing in a Vietnamese jungle would have been noticed by someone.

The only possible location where an undetected crash could have happened- as far as I'm aware- would be the Andaman Islands as some are uninhabited and the people there are mostly disconnected from the outside world therefore may not have been able to determine that it was a plane crash if they only heard it, but didn't see it, and may not be aware that there is currently a search for a plane occurring.

Okay. You may be right that one or even none of those dots is a possible. I don't know about all of them.